Digital photography has mostly replaced film photography as the method of choice in archiving events and occasions. One advantage of a digital picture is that because the picture is digital, the same image can be sent to a number of people and it can be easily edited on a computer. For example, a digital picture can be cropped, rotated and touched up relatively quickly.
One potential problem with digital photographs, however, is that it is often difficult to remember what event a particular picture represents. For example, if a set of related photographs are stored in a computer file folder, it can be difficult to remember which picture represents what if the set is the result of a number of pictures taken over time. Conventional pictures also have this problem but since they have to be developed to be viewed, one can write on the back of the photograph and thus keep track. While it is possible to print digital photographs and write on the back as well, in practice the low cost of taking digital pictures allows many more pictures to be taken than are needed to be printed. Thus, a large number of digital pictures are not printed out but instead saved on a computer readable medium for some time when they are needed. While this is highly cost effective, the number of digital pictures that one can take and store makes it difficult to remember the details of a particular photograph. Therefore, it would be helpful to be able to mark up the photographs while they are still digital versions.
In addition, as pictures are a digital medium, sometimes it would be useful to place captions or text in the photograph before sending the photograph via email. For example, photographs may be made more appropriate for a particular occasion if comments are placed on the photograph. Thus, there are a number of reasons for why someone might want to mark up a digital photograph.
One method of marking up images such as photographs is to use electronic ink. In a manner similar to how a user marks up a physical image, a user can use electronic ink to mark up a digital image. For example, a user could use a device configured to control a cursor so as to electronically ink (e.g. write) on the photograph. Thus, one possible advantage of using electronic ink is that it is relatively intuitive for the user.
Certain existing software will allow a user to mark up a digital photograph (e.g. ink on the surface of the photograph). However, current software does not provide the level of ease that is desirable. For example, a default color used for the ink may not be compatible with a particular photograph or a region of the photograph (e.g. may not be readable or aesthetically pleasing in that region). Manually selecting the correct ink color can be time consuming and may even be difficult for some photographs or images.